An Experiment In Decay

Yeah, that trigger really has to go…and I think I’m referencing my old Block II to a certain extent:

I love a bit of intertextuality.

Aside from that and because I’m a hopeless rattle can addict, I’ve been planning on repainting my SGT 416. TRHB veterans will recall the hassle this has caused before.

Here’s a quick update: I painted my 416 as soon as I got it, following the usual preparation and using the same paints and techniques I’d used for successfully painting a number of other guns. However, the paint job – which was particularly complex, and hard work – started to peel-off almost as soon as it was dry.

I later learned that my receiver set had been covered in silicone oil, after being Cerakoted. That is probably the worst thing you can do before painting something. Silicone is nasty stuff and really resilient to cleaning. Finding a solvent for silicone oil is difficult and satin finish Cerakote isn’t that great for keying paint anyway (matt is much better); so it was a double whammy. After a succession of disastrous cleaning and painting attempts I stripped it all back and went back to black.

I was never satisfied with that.

However, a mate – Steve – had successfully painted his Cerakoted SGT L119A1. I always meant to follow up on my 416, following his sage advice.

Basically, what Steve recommended was using Krylon. I’d sworn off this stuff as I found the output difficult to control. Steve’s argument, however, was sound.

It was something I hadn’t considered but had experienced: when stripping paint off a gun, Humbrol, Halfords, Fosco, etc, all come off relatively easily. Krylon, however, is a bastard. So what Steve was saying, was that Krylon keys better and thus stays on.

The second part of Steve’s premise was using the Krylon in light layers, allowing each to dry, then reapplying.

So that would be my technique, but I was still apprehensive. And for that reason, I thought I’d engage in an experiment.

At times I did think I’d go ahead and paint the whole gun, but I fought myself on that and adopted a more even handed approach. I decided to go with lower only, for a ‘dropped in’ upper look. Unnaturally cautious for me, huh?

First and foremost, the paint job would be really simple – one colour. In fairness, one colour paint jobs tend to look a bit shit initially. But when they begin to weather, I think they look better than more complex paint jobs. I guess that’s one of the reasons some prefer to artificially weather their blasters, but that wouldn’t provide any useful data for me. I need to see if I can paint in a way that it sticks.

The colour I decided on was FDE. But of the available paints, only Humbrol Dark Brown 29 would do for that. The tone of the latter is kind of mid way between Magpul’s FDE and MFT’s Scorched Dark Earth.

So, I decided to do a light base coat of Krylon Khaki (sourced from Tactical Kit). This would hopefully key the surface for the Humbrol.

Using Steve’s technique (thanks again, Steve!) the paint went on OK. Dare I say, normally.

It takes Krylon a week to cure, so I’ll leave the blaster for now and see what happens. When I get to use it next, I’m hoping it’ll start to weather normally and get really grubby over time.